Thursday, January 21, 2010
January 21
Saint Agnes
http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/Saint.aspx?id=1267
Almost nothing is known of this saint except that she was very young—12 or 13—when she was martyred in the last half of the third century. Various modes of death have been suggested—beheading, burning, strangling.
Legend has it she was a beautiful girl whom many young men wanted to marry. Among those she refused, one reported her to the authorities for being a Christian. She was arrested and confined to a house of prostitution. The legend continues that a man who looked upon her lustfully lost his sight and had it restored by her prayer. She was condemned, executed and buried near Rome in a catacomb that eventually was named after her. The daughter of Constantine built a basilica in her honor.
Comment:
Like that of modern Maria Goretti, the martyrdom of a virginal young girl made a deep impression on a society enslaved to a materialistic outlook. Like Agatha, who died in similar circumstances, Agnes is a symbol that holiness does not depend on length of years, experience or human effort. It is a gift God offers to all.
Patron Saint of:
Girls
An interesting custom is observed on her feast day.
Two lambs are brought from the Trappist abbey of Tre Fontane in Rome to the Pope to be blessed.
On Holy Thursday they are shorn,
and from the wool is woven the pallium which the pope gives to a newly consecrated metropolitan archbishop
as a sign of his jurisdiction and his union with the pope.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnes_of_Rome
Reflection
St. Agnes is depicted with a lamb because her name is similar to the Latin word for lamb "agnus".
It might be fun to look up the meaning of our own name
and reflect on how our name represents
the gift to God that we are in the process of becoming. crsr
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